If you’re looking for excitement at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2018, you won’t have to wait long. There are plenty of tantalising first-round matchups in Tokyo, led by a clash between 2017 Next Gen ATP Finals winner Hyeon Chung and #NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov.
Two of the brightest talents in the sport will clash for the second time in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, after Chung triumphed in the round-robin stage at Milan last November.
The South Korean will try to continue what has been a successful season, backing up his success at Fiera Milano by reaching the quarter-finals at nine of his 13 tour-level events in 2018. The 22-year-old cracked the Top 20 in April, and is currently the World No. 19. Shapovalov has also stood out, claiming 30 match wins so far this season, including a run to the Mutua Madrid Open semi-finals.
It won’t get any easier for the winner, as Chung or Shapovalov will face either former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka and #NextGenATP American Taylor Fritz, who advanced to the semi-finals at the Chengdu Open. Wawrinka has shown signs of his top form during his comeback from two knee surgeries, beating reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion Grigor Dimitrov twice and making the last four at last week’s St. Petersburg Open.
The top seed, Marin Cilic, will begin his event against German Jan-Lennard Struff. In their only previous FedEx ATP Head2Head clash, at Sydney in 2014, the Croatian was victorious in three sets. He will look to continue his recent success in Tokyo, where the World No. 6 has reached the semi-finals the past two years.
The second seed is Kevin Anderson, who at No. 8 in the ATP Race To London is trying to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time. The South African, who won the New York Open, advanced to the Wimbledon final and has made the semi-finals at two ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events (Madrid, Toronto) this year, opens against Aussie Matthew Ebden. The first seed he can face is No. 8 seed Richard Gasquet.
The home fans will be out in force to cheer on two-time Tokyo champion Kei Nishikori, who is making a push to rejoin the Top 10 once again. The Japanese superstar has won seven of his past nine matches, including an impressive effort at the US Open, where he reached the semi-finals. Third-seeded Nishikori plays compatriot Yuichi Sugita in the first round and he can eventually clash against fifth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarter-finals.
Another interesting first-rounder pits recent Moselle Open champion Gilles Simon against #NextGenATP Aussie Alex de Minaur. Simon has enjoyed a resurgent campaign, climbing from No. 89 in the ATP Rankings at the start of the year to No. 29. De Minaur owned just two tour-level match wins prior to 2018, but he has quickly shown his readiness for this level by reaching two ATP World Tour finals (Sydney and Washington, D.C.).
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